Complacent Strangers
by IretherI
Summary: ON HOLDTwo souls, that were not destined to meet, are now twisted grostequely in the web of lies. BtVS & AtS Cross over. Full Summary inside.
1. Complicated Lives

**Iretheri:** This is my first (internet posted) fanfic, I do not own BtVS nor do I own AtS. I only answer ownership to the plot and if thereby this story actually is similar to yours, then it was done so unintentionally and I would just reply that great minds think alike.

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**Summary: **How far will _He_ go to fulfill a prophecy that had no beginning and no end? The prophesy that will either break bonds or bind them throughout the rest oftheir counted days in the world. Two souls, that were not destined to meet, are now twisted grostequely in the web of lies. They thought that the worst has flown before them, but they did not notice the gaping wound it left inside and out. People say that time can heal the wounds,the only thing that they don't have is time.

(This is a crossover between BtVS & AtS, the story takes place in BtVS after Normal Again and in AtS just about the ending of Provider. It goes somewhat non-canon from there.)

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**Complacent Strangers**

**Chapter One- Complicated Lives**

In the dimension of Arashmaharr, moaning echoes of woe were abundant throughout the great father's chamber. It tore his heart out to hear one of his children go through the heartache again, Anyanka now had another different story to tell. But as she sat there in her wedding gown in the realm of her demonic roots, human or not it was a home filled with memories dark and dreary, crying her eyes out for the past few hours, D'Hoffryn had set his mind to ask her yet again.

"Are you okay?"

She shakes her head, the shattering scream of her human heart craves for a stop to the bad feelings she's experiencing. "I'm tired...," she sniffles, "-of crying." The great father of vengeance weeps for her from within and yet she mentions it again, "I'm just so tired, D'Hoffryn." The fresh new trail of tears on her cheeks made her look like she was drowning in her own sorrows and the father of vengeance sighs, "Oh, Anyanka. I'm so sorry."

She gazed back at the demon father she has looked up to ever since her turning of a vengeance demon as well as her abrupt departure from the business and being becoming human again. She thought, _'I just want to make the hurting stop, why did he have to leave me? Xander. Xander...'_

D'Hoffryn was cautiously gentle but firm in his saying, "But you let him domesticate you."

_'It was not like that, Xander and I were in love and it was very baffling, I was, I-'_, she shut her eyes. 

"When you were a vengeance demon, you were powerful; at the top of your game. You crushed men like him."

D'Hoffryn was replied in silence by Anya's unreadable face with her mind filled with thoughts she needed to say. She gradually realizes where he was taking this, it made her doubtful. "As much respect I have for you and considering you as my father, and-and that I would love to become what I truly am good at..." She bows her head down in embarrassment of the refusal she has yet to invoke. "I just need time to think, things have gone weird for me." She was met with a raised brow, "Okay, things have taken into a stranger direction..."

She stands up and displays herself, "L-look at me, I'm a fat human woman whose boyfriend r-ran off on our wedding day; I'm supposed to be having my honeymoon tonight in the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas having many orgasms with _him_ but it ends with my heart is shattering into a million tiny pieces."

D'Hoffryn sighs yet again as he lets Anyanka's weakness take over -the inability to stop talking. He loves his girls but there was no shame in admitting that there was no such thing as a perfect vengeance demon. "-my breasts feel so sore and swollen, and don't get me started on my nipples! They're getting darker, they've gone from rosy pink into this hideous colour of dark brownish-red. I feel so horrible like a fat four-hundred year old demon and I've been vomiting. Did anybody notice? Hell, no!"

Thoughts from D'Hoffryn were, _'This is going to take a while.'_

Her ranting takes a crescendo, "-too many trips to the toilet, I don't even remember urinating for almost a thousand times a day and to end my tirade on a good note, I haven't gotten my mortal monthlies yet, meaning I'm twelve weeks late and I still have the underlying feeling that something is wrong with my body!" She forces out a crooked smile, "No menstrual cramps yet for me, isn't that great!"

It did not occur to Anya that there might have been another reason as to why she was having those pains but to D'Hoffryn's account, his patient manner of waiting for an all-time favourite to be back on the roster was cut short as he finds out that little miss mortal Anya has another life inside her mortal body. The last logical thing that came into his mind was: _"What!" _Then all he found Arashamarr was fading away; he did a very un-demonic thing and fainted.

"D'Hoffryn?"

* * *

A furious ring of mechanical contraption, invented by Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, had woken Willow Rosenberg up, dragging herself out of bed and answering the phone with a groggy and inaudible, "Hello?"

_"Willow, there is such a serious problem." _Eyes perked up to hear Wesley's voice on the phone, the former watcher and once classed as a pompous idiot who proposed the Box of- but Willow wasn't going to go back for a glimpse of the past_, "C-Cordelia has gotten a-a vision and, and though it is utterly ludicrous on my opinion, I-" _She could hear somebody screaming:_ "Get on with it!" _in the background, a woman's voice -Cordelia, who was much in serious pain.

_"To the point, yes, yes, I have called to inform you that Cordelia has gotten a vision of Dawn is in very, very, very dangerous peril. Get her out of Sunnydale, it is a must; says Cordelia and-"_ A sudden lengthy pause was apparent as well as the muffled voices; a struggle with the phone. "Hello? Hello? I-"

**_"Scorn the witch, kill the slayer.  
Take the heart, love the vampire.  
None of it matters…"_**

"Cordy?" Deep breathing was all she could hear, a strong feeling in her own guy made Willow feel edgy about answering the phone in the middle of the night.

**_"Believe that the end is nigh.  
Believe it when they say it's the time to die…"_**

"What's going on! Guys?" It sounded like Cordelia but it also had someone else, something tied itself with her. Whatever it was, Willow deep did not want to know.

**_"A Hellmouth to be opened, it was fated.  
The death of a girl who was not supposed to be…"  
_**  
Goosebumps piling up on her body, Willow could not find her voice anymore.

**_"Destined. Death. Dawn comes, mated with destruction.  
She was, is and always will be the key. He, who is lost,  
Miracle he is, shall make her conceive…" _**

The line went dead and the Wiccan didn't want to go back to sleep.

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"**_He, who is lost,  
Miracle he is,  
Shall make her conceive-"_ **

Breathing deeply, speaking with primal voice that Angel started to think of things he was not supposed to. He kept chanting in his mind that she was still out of bounds, _'Cordelia Chase is the sun, get to close and you'll just end up destroying a vampire's everything_. _Sun, sun, sun, sun! And besides friends never stay just friends when they start going on about dreaming about ravishing each other…'_ His mind has gone into coded mode of unintelligible thoughts of urges.

"Miracle he is, shall m-make her c-conceive…", she stutters. The guttural voice gone; the possessed Cordelia back into the world. "Miracle he is, shall make her conceive…-miracle…..miracle. Oh, oh no." A strong sense of realization had clamped Cordelia silent, "No way."

Her hand instinctively rushing up to touch her lips for a moment and then bursting into rush, taking two steps at a time while walking up the stairs, her mind set on seeing the little baby she sometimes wishes to call her own.

Her heart set at ease when she finds that he was still asleep, alongside the crib was Lorne drifting back and forth from the land of the wake and slumber. She smiles and backs away slowly closing the door. Another sigh and her eyes blink in confusion as she sees Angel with worry etched deep in his visage.

"What's wrong?"

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"I don't understand, Buffy?" The flashes of her memories taking plight in her mind; the days that gave grown hectic ever since her very own sister had come back from the bands of death, after being pulled away from heaven by her own friends. She calls out to her sister, the Slayer, in a silent plea unvoiced by emotions but projected by the glistening of her eyes.

"Could you go and relay that to me one more time?" She laughs it off, thinking it might have been some kind of joke that Xander suggested to lighten up the mood within the Summers' household. "Because in my sad little world, I want to believe that I got the wrong end of the stick with you all saying that you wanted me to move away to a _'better place'_ -to live with Cordelia to live a life close to normal, away from Sunnydale."

"Dawnie…", Her sister's voice whispers but to Dawn it was unrecognisable and distant; she slipping farther and farther until she came and held her close. "It's for the best."

"No." She pulls herself away from her sister's embrace. "No, no, no. This is just a dream; tell me it's a nightmare. Ha, ha, ha, it's a joke, right? Anyone?"

The silence in the room was deafening, she turns to her friends that were present in the room. She looks at Xander and he replies in hung-out silence. She turns to Willow as her insides scream in protest for anyone, anyone to voice out concern, to disagree with the decision.

"Well, it's either that or you could go to our estrange father who also happens to be in Los Angeles." Buffy forces out a soothing smile but she could not hold the same facial expression while she was disheartened herself. "If you ask me, I'd rather you choose to go with the first choice."

"Guys?" A nervous laugh chokes her, tears that have occasionally rose, came crashing down and everyone just let her cry. "I can't believe this," she mumbles. "You're making me leave after…. Did you guys even think about this?"

"Well actually Dawn, we've been thinking 'this' ever since we found you were a key but then we overcame that after you know, Buffy jumping off the portal and that phone call Cordy made to us saying that you're going to die…," Surprised, Xander suddenly found his voice and inappropriate time to mention something that wasn't supposed to be in the discussion. "What I meant was when Cordy called Willow about saying you were taking too much of a diet, that's it!"

Everybody's eyes were suddenly found on him, "Okay, I'll go back to being Oh-the-floor-is-so-wonderful, I-love it-I'm-thinking-of-marrying-it."

Unwanted tears come glistening down the surface of her cheek, she could not understand what Xander was saying as her heart was wrenching in a struggle with her lungs to keep on breathing. The things they were telling her, the plans they thought of without her consent in the matter was making it harder and harder to breath. She just didn't understand. She didn't want to think that she was just baggage to them.

Stubborn blue eyes refused to accept it, she attacked."Yeah, like Anya. You think you love it at first and then suddenly you run out on the woman you say you love on your wedding day. I can't believe you did that, I thought you loved her!" Frustration seeking a way out, she preys on others while her heart weeps. Alexander Harris restrained himself to not make more of what happened, he leaves the room and worried Willow goes after him. "I thought you loved me and now you're sending away because of a phone call from a possessed Cordelia Chase…." Realization struck her high and she slumps down onto the floor, "…saying that I'm going to die."

A stern voice cutting through the silence of revelation, "You're not going to-"

"I'm going to die." Dawn knew life was short but now being faced with the piece of information after surviving everything she'd been through -Glory, the Key, the death and resurrection of her sister; death was inevitable but now fear was making her blood run cold.

"Dawnie, look at me." She looks at her, helpless, more confused than she had been before. "You're not going to die, I'm making sure of it. That's why you're bound to L.A. Cordelia and Angel, they're there to help and as much as it breaks my heart to see you go, I will not let my own selfish reasons make that vision come true."

Silence was music; misery accompanied with the tears of sorrow, it was a heart-rending kind of union.

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She was starring at her grief-stricken reflection ever since she arrived back in their -in Xander's apartment. She was teleported by one of D'Hoffryn's minions after his display of fainting affection and she could not move. She refused the offer that was second priority on her list of things to do and she still has not changed.

_'I look very pretty and glowy in this dress, I should be happy. I don't know why I should be but pretty things always make me happy, at least they used to.'_ Tear number two hundred and ninety-nine falls down and breaks another record for Anya, she could not remembering crying this hard and this long before.

She pouts and hastily wipes away the tears that flood, _'What was I supposed to do again? Right, Anya. You should start packing, he-who-must-never-be-mentioned-ever-again made it imperfectly clear about what he wanted; at least he implied something…'_ She started packing, taking out her clothes from his lot and placing them on to the bed and she kept on doing so until someone came to her.

"Anya?"

"Hallie?"

Her vengeance demon friend teleported into meet her and enveloped her in real genuine embrace, "I'm so sorry, Anya." Anya's tears start to fall. "I knew from the back of my mind that something wasn't right, men and people who neglect children should out to be banished for eternity in Quor'toth." Hallie somehow managed to continue on speaking and something struck inside Anya that made her cry even harder.

"Should I grant you wishes? Oh, this would be really good." She claps her hands in excitement, "Have him castrated? How about beheaded? Circumcised meaning actually cutting his penis off? Eaten by a Venus fly trap, one hungry Venus fly trap? Let's give him warts on his pen-"

"Stop it! I can't believe you, of all people-", Anya takes another look at her friendwho shrugs back at her. She sighs in defeat,"Well maybe I expected it from you but I don't want to hear this now. I know it what my mind is telling me but my heart is saying otherwise."

Hallie's eyes lit up in realization, from the moment she appeared to her dearly beloved friend and former competitor there was something off about her presence. _'She's grown fat and...Oh dear merciful D'Hoffryn…' _

Anya shrinks back into silence, thinking._ 'Some thing's wrong with me…'_ A feeling of loss and pain, something was flowing down her legs and she was scared. She closed her eyes as a shudder of fear came through her.

A gasp from Hallie made Anya's eyes open and emit a pained cry, Halfrek was shocked and anxiety. "Anya, honey, your bleeding…" The raging fire that usually shined in her friend's eyes froze cold and Halfrek was confused. Alongside the dawning of Anya, there was a minuscule call for help in the room that her demonic senses have lately felt.

There was life inside Anya's belly, a life weakening as Halfrek's thoughts were jumbled up in panic, it was screaming for help. The baby was somehow dying and Halfrek was set to do something about it.

Anya was confused and all she could say was, "Help me." Then drift off into darkness alone.

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IretherI: Feedback surely appreciated and needed.**


	2. Nothing Lasts Forever

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Disclaimer's Apply. **

**IretherI:** This chapter was inspired by my whimsical awe of Greek mythology after watching Disney's Hercules on film that lead to a pain-staking silly way of learning more about Greek mythology (I had chosen to go through every single encyclopedia we had and looked page after page to know about the people in who were in it) That was when I was like, thirteen years old. Well I won't keep you from reading.

Go ahead.**

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**Complacent Strangers **

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Chapter Two- Nothing Lasts Forever**

Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles.

Somehow, their day ended with Angel, Cordelia and the baby lying on his bed. All of them were waiting for sleep to overcome them but the events of almost beheading of their genius Winifred Burkle and the possession of $50,000 into Angel Investigations left them both weary and gripped in delusional fantasies.

"Go to sleep, my baby peep…" Cordelia was softly singing a lullaby for the baby between Angel and herself. They were lying on top of Angel's bed with the baby happily feeding on the bottle she was holding while the dad and the dad's unknowing beloved were exhausted and eyes closed to shut.

It was one of the beautiful things in the world, simple, as it was being two people brought closer by a child and dreaming about what the future would bring into the wealthy addition to their income, "I'm just saying a boat."

Brown eyes half-opened, it reminded Cordelia of a puppy-dog look. "No. College fund." She smiles to herself and replies, "Yes. College fun -and pay our bills- and put a down payment on a boat."

"We're not getting a boat." Cordelia sighs heavily.

"Hmm, they're fun."

"They're expensive." If somebody took a photograph of the moment, they would guess that they're a happy family. The married couple, madly in love with each other and their child, having a nightly chat about their baby after a long day's work, toiling for the brighter future they sought for their little boy. "And when would I go on this boat, hmm?"

However, reality, to them, was far from that, they were a family unbound by blood but a family nonetheless. The man was a creature of the night with a soul by gypsies, the woman and the child shared something special. They were bound in complications and lived through it.

"Moonlight sails," she dreamily answered and went for a reality check, "Okay, college fund -pay our bills- and rent a ski condo in Aspen."

Angel raises a brow, "Ski condo?"

"There's got to be some fun in our lives."

"Hmmm," Angel pauses for intentional dramatic effect; he failed miserably but answered her. "I like a ski condo."

"Sure. Snow. Trees. Chipmunk robots on ice…"

"Chipmunk robots…" They were drifting together into dreamland, "-on ice."

Serene and tranquil, they were at peace, safe and secure as they dreamed of happy dreams woven by their unconscious mind but that was when it striked. The pains of helping others through seeing what was happening beforehand was not killing her...as much as it used to when she was fully human.

Cordelia pushed herself out of Angel's bed, receiving another vision, there was a grave feeling she mused to herself that this one was going to be one heck of a ride. The bottle fell out of her grasp and Angel felt her erratic movements while the baby was complaining about the loss of his milk.

"Cordy!" A surge of white light enveloped them with its warmth but it did not last as balls of fire appeared on her palms, she saw them mesmerized and then let them shoot away from her. She lets out a pained cry, the baby wails in the background.

That was all she could remember, the balls of fire emitted from herself had dispersed the moment she felt it hit her skin. Then on, everything faded again.

Emerald eyes faced with the view of her living room rotated to ninety degrees as she fell asleep on the couch again. She could feel that trouble was brewing, wrapping her arms around her. Memories from someone else were being etched deep into her mind, her body and her soul. She could feel her heart beating swift while she wrapped her arms around herself.

She whispers, "Angel, what is happening to you?"

The ice embracing her heart, away from the real pain that would break her down, the ice around her heart was melting. She was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Chosen One, the girl who deserved to be placed on a pedestal for eternity for all the work she does to keep the world more safer from the things that do more than bump in the night, she was the good girl who was wicked when the time came to be bad.

She was seen to reach their highest expectations and her lists of responsibilities weren't exactly growing shorter since she was growing up. The great power she carries brings great responsibilities, she was juggling the parental guidance, the older sister, the slayer, the best friend and the list keep piling on; one after another…

Nobody was home in 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale except for Buffy Anne Summers. It was time to let out what has been kept inside when she was around everyone else and so she cried. It was out of character for the slayer to cry but it felt right for Buffy pouring her heart out silently across an empty house.

Outside, the vampire was waiting for Buffy. He was pursuing her like a shadow underneath the much praise for her, he lays evil. He looked at her with such love that he knew it was close. Eventually, his love will drive him mad. Until he hears what she was saying, he shatters his self-proclaimed promise of watching her from a distance.

He drops another cigarette onto the pile behind the tree of her front lawn and lights another, his chain-smoking habit wouldn't kill since he was already dead. He inhales the stick one more time before thinking again and again if he should stay or should he go.

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Brown. 

The colour brown was a similarity for both of them since they had brown hair and brown eyes. He knew that fact but he never indulged in the petty pleasure of saying to himself that was one more reason that they belonged together. He was a cursed creature of the night, the vampire with a soul setting out his path to redemption by doing what is someway right and alongside that was to pay for his sins.

Sitting down on his chair behind his office desk, he had been patiently waiting for their new arrival. A giggle erupts from his son and he looks up to find Cordelia coming his way with his baby and the drooping lids of her eyes, he managed to smile. "Couldn't sleep?"

He earns himself a glare from his half-demon seer, "Well excuse me for making the baby feel agitated from the freaky-deaky Cordy just because I'm doing my job." He laughs to himself out of Cordy's hearing range, she was still busy attacking him weakly about something he forgot to listen to. Her intense one-side conversation did no further good to her as little Connor thought it was too much for listening to his aunty Cordy's rants. He started to cry.

"Oh, no." Cordelia was trying to appease Connor by means of anything that came popping in her very, very exhausted mind. "Please stop crying, honey. I promise when you grow up I'm going to teach you the real way to deal with women so that you won't end up brooding and depressed like your daddy dearest did, ok?"

"Hey, I resent that!"

She gives him the sarcastic version of a sympathetic look. "Of course, you do." Her attention divided between the man and his son, she did not notice that Angel placed himself behind her and closed over the arch of her back. She was surprised.

Whispering to her left ear and holding her arms out as he was offering help to soothe his child, "Calm down, everything will be fine now." He half-sang and half-hummed a tune.

"_Over in Killarney many years ago, me mither sang a song to me in tones so sweet and low. Just a simple little ditty, in her good ould Irish way, and I'd give the world if she could sing that song to me this day."_ He held them both -he wove his arms around Cordelia from behind with his head resting on her shoulder while his hands helped support baby Connor, rocking them gently into relaxing sway of peace.

"_Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li, Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!"_ She shudders at his sheer touch and almost letting out a breath of a whimper when he suddenly stopped for a moment.

"_Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral-"_ She shudders at his sheer touch and almost let out a breathe of a whimper when he suddenly stopped and felt her heart thudding a little bit harder against her chest when he started to sing again. _"-Too-ra-loo-ra-li, Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's an Irish lullaby."_

He kept on rocking them from side to side, _'Angel, why, what are you doing -how can you make me feel like this…'_ and suddenly her cheeks burned red when she felt the trembling of her shoulder as he chuckled._ 'Okay, did I say that aloud?'_

A tender giggle of a baby boy caught her attention, one from her shoulder and one from the little boy who was around her arms now asleep. "Baby knocked out and daddy still standing…" she smiles and unconsciously nuzzles the side of her head beside the crook of Angel's neck.

"Cordelia?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know, I've been around a long time and I've never known anyone like you."

Genuinely surprised and a bit annoyed look was what he immediately got from Cordelia. "Wait, haven't you said this before?"

He stills them both and replies with a grave nod, "But I haven't finished," he shifts and stands up with his six inches taller than her. He looked back into her eyes, brown on brown, and meant every single word of what he was about to say, _"Tá cion agam ort." _

Confusion fuelled her to open her mouth and ask him what the heck he was trying to say. With her head still turned to face him and the petite gaping of her mouth, she was felt tearful as he ravished her so gently by his lips against and with her own. She closed her eyes and ignored the rational way of keeping a real friend; it was the most tender thing anyone has ever done to her. It seemed to go on and on until he remembered that Cordelia needed air. She finally did moan out loud when he pulled away; blinking brown eyes, both on each other and she was breathless.

The feel of her fingertips on her lips made her wonder what the heck happened; everything seemed to go so fast.

_'Did he just kiss me?'_ "Angel, wha-"

Then their Texan sweetheart came in with a ghost of a smile pasted on her face, she was not in a festive mood but her quirky personality made her remember a totally random occurrence with Plyean rats. _'The abominations of the Plyean dimension were cute little animals crossed between pandas and koala bears, what were they called again? Something, something -tocik?'_

She said without looking up at them, "Um, I'd just like to say that um, the Slayer's sister just came out of nowhere literally. It's like she was magically transported..." She raises her head to find Angel's eyes on her and she turns to see Cordelia breathing deeply.

She suddenly giggles, "Is there something going on that I should know about? You guys look like you've been making out." The horror struck both of them but Fred immediately replies with another laugh, "Don't mind me, it's like I'm on a high or something like that. I'll just take my turn on the baby!" Her eyes droop for a moment making funny faces as she carries Connor out of the office and then she was gone with giggles.

Then again, they were alone. Angel could hear the loud thudding of Cordelia's heart through his heightened senses as cursed vampire. For the first time he had made the Cordelia Chase speechless, it was an accomplishment even for an old vamp like him but his humane half bound with demon has some fears starting to gurgle on the surface.

'_Silence is a good thing, right? But she's just not talking and it's not like I wouldn't love to hear what she says about the kiss? The weird lingo? Comment on the weather even?'_ His eyes were always on her whether she noticed or not. It was the kind of like psycho stalker but more of a subtle-stalkerish lover from the sidelines; longing and waiting with his hands clenched to stop him from craving more of attention. _'I can't do this.'_

"Angel," his eyes perk up for a fleeting moment. "I love you but-" His world was caving in and he sees his past choking him into submission. It was screaming at him, _'You were never meant for happiness of any sense, this will never last and you'll only end up breaking with the friendship you have with her. You'll destroy the nature of happiness you have built with **them**, the binds of friendship are strong but it will wilt away when you do something stupid…' _

He wasn't listening but Cordelia managed to lock her lips with him as he was wrapped in his own world of woven thoughts. He gave in for primal desire but realizing he was doing something he wished not to do, he literally pushed her off him, Cordelia landed directly onto his chair. 

"I can never have you." With that, he bolted with his vampire abilities and disappeared from his seer's view and haunted with the words he left fading into her ear and imprinted into her heart, "I'm sorry."

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Groggily, groggily, she was coming back. Everything was aflame; an enchanted smile sprang upon her demonic features. Screams of agony were heard as the world was slowly coming into another end but it was not enough, the pull of menace and scornfulness was abundant and the unbearable pain coming from those who merit punishment. Blood clung to her like second skin as she walked the path many have chosen, she had enjoyed her stay and now the time was to fulfil her escape. 

The wish of a young Italian woman who had been wronged to utmost extent by Nazi soldiers who have abused her and killed every single person that she had given a piece of happiness in their hellish village. It turned from a spitfire of vengeance to a very much praised massacre in the underworld. _"Lucretia," _she smiled of satisfaction. She remembered the weeping woman's requiem, _"Sono venuti uninvited al mio paese. Hanno assassinato la mia famiglia. Hanno abusato, violentato e me ha ucciso. Sono morto perché ricordo sempre ciò che è successo sul mio giorno di nascita e sul giorno quando la mia vita intera è stato rovinata. Voglio che staranno nell'inferno per sempre." _

With her shoes clicking against the pavement and her hair tailing behind her, this wish granted and she walked away as another layer of stone and ice covered her heart.

Lucretia Rossi lived in Istria, Italy. She was born to goodly parents. She lived a simple and righteous life. Ordinary, yet she recalled vengeance demons as the beautiful and broken Italian woman who lived to tell her sad tale.

Yugoslav partisans. Accusations. Foibe massacres. September 8, 1943.

_They_ killed her family, her everything. _They _abused and raped her. _They _were killing her, painfully and slow. She wanted to die that very fateful day but what do you know? Surprise, she survived living through the horror. Carrying the distressing memories and a child from _that _man -that day was supposed to be of celebration for her birth, but she could never ever be happy ever again. She mourns every single second that she breathes in air and nurturing an unwanted son as she lives a life not dying when they took everything away. _"L'inferno è qui…Arrivederci il mio Lucretia dolce…and they are bound to pay for all eternity, dear Lucretia…"_

Shattering screams of everlasting torture, gore and death in a cycle to pay for the sins, they shall never receive redemption and they shall never have a moment's peace while being eternally imprisoned in hell. They were to go through the pain and the hurt over and over again for the rest of eternity, their fates were sealed and Anyanka rejoiced for justice

Groggily, groggily, she heaves herself away from the scalding sunshine of her demon days and comes back reluctantly to reality. Hot flashes flee as she wakes to a room that was not her own, she looks around. Machines and wires sticking out her skin, she searches for her voice and coughs out, "Hallie?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," he checks on to his clipboard to find her name, "Ms. Jenkins but I'm not Ms.Underwood. Your friend Hallie is waiting for you outside."

He reminded her of a fox but she was not going to think of what connotations she could bring as she looked at the white coat man. "Who are you? Where am I? What have you-"

"Please, Ms. Jenkins. Calm yourself." She did. "Firstly, how rude of me. I'm your doctor or rather gynaecologist, Michael Smith." Then came the feeling of dread and unanswered questions as she resonates more fear, "I'm here to give you news that there might have been complications with your unborn children."

A furrow in her burrow and her front teeth biting her lip, "Children?"

The doctor mistook her confusion and associated it with shock; he talked rather more simply and slowly. "Ms. Jenkins, you are three months pregnant with your first twins as Ms. Underwood explained. A few hours ago, you experience crapping in your back and severe pain flashing over your body. You had a miscarriage, we took the liberty of having a scan, since permission was granted by Ms. Underwood, and we could hear a surviving heartbeat."

"A surviving heartbeat? You said that I was having children, children mean more than one, how come I only have one to end with when I had many to begin with?"

The doctor gave calm, understanding approach and spoke even more softly with a clear voice. "You were carrying twins inside your womb, they have been there for twelve weeks as I can imagine but this morning you...passed the pregnancy." He was grim and solemn. He handed Anya a leaflet that read 'How to deal with losing your baby…'

"We have a support group-"

The doctor continued to speak but she had shelled herself away from it. She placed her hands on her tummy whispering sweet nothings; the doctor stopped and said that he was going to leave and let the family in.

'_I will not cry. I've cried too much, this isn't happening. It's a nightmare and I can't wake up…' _In a sudden blur of colours, she could see someone perch itself on the couch. That someone eager held her hand; she wished that it were he. With much high expectations, she wished that Xander was there trying to see if she was still all right. "Anya? You gave me quite a fright, dear." She lets out a high-pitched laugh, Anya lethargically recognized who it was and she was somewhat disappointed. "I brought you to these human hospitals after well panicking and well stuff. I could teleport you to where your other friends are."

She tries to smile but it came out as a pained expression. "I don't have any friends." She tries to speak but tears flooded down her cheeks and she wails like a mourning mother that she is, "I can't understand. Am I that stupid? How can everything start out confusing then lift my spirits up to feel all those feelings and, and I just wish you know." She slumps down into her pristine hospital bed while Halfrek's eyes gleam with expectancy. _'I apologize for now Anya, but wishes always comes first.'_

"I don't understand, please do elaborate." Eager was Halfrek for the faded soul of the twin, but stern eyes met her with weak stance, "No. I know what you're trying to do, Halfrek. You're not getting it from me."

"Fine, Anyanka." She walks out of the room, with a remembered thought of irony. She turned to face the woman sitting on the pristine white bed, "Well, I cannot play caring friend without any gifts. You see I brought you one of your most favoured memories..." With words stolen from a witch, she blessed and cursed her by envisioning the past. _"Arrivederci il mio Anya dolce…"_

She shivers as she was forced to see the monstrosity her devious granting of the wish. She remembered everything Istria; the trauma of the woman, the sodomizing ways of man and how crystalline black her heart was that day. It marvelled her how cold her heart had been, how she had seen the world for centuries as black and white. There was nothing in between and now she's always caught in the middle. She reached out for the glass of water on her bedside table and drank its contents with a shaky hand.

Without sparing another second, she drifted out to calm herself with her dreams of being a millionaire against the whole world and winning.

It did not help.

* * *

Darkness echoed throughout the waters of the unknown as theenigma deliberate. Excitement pulled through their works, Lachesis playfully spins the thread of life a little bit faster; with childish glee, she knew that someone's time was going to be up. With her nimble fingers, the youngest of the sisters smiled. 

"_Little by little, it happens as it should." _She hums out self-indulged song. _"One would wonder why mortals are ever so surprised? A day they are born, days they live, and then one other day they die. They all know and yet they cry surprised." _As she sings more, she could not help but sing quicker. Enthusiasm from her meant there would be some things cut short, but her older sister had to intervene cutting a glare like ice.

"_Childish Lachesis, know what is good for you. Never…" _Atropos glares at her without even looking directly at the youngest, she was the most feared and the inevitable. Little Lachesis would add 'shortest and meanest' in the list to describe her eldest sister.

Lachesis looks up at her second sister, the middle child and the equilibrium of the three whom rarely speaks, Clotho. She regarded her as the most prettiest of the three, she knows so much about the past if she could only find her voice when it was most needed, the sisters might have been more harmonious. Atropos felt something unusual in their abode and smileddespite that knowing what was going to happen, she whispers,_"-It is approaching…"

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	3. Always Will I Fall

**IretherI: As always, I do not own this blah blah. Standard disclaimer's apply...****

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Complacent Strangers

**Chapter Three- Always Will I Fall

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"_What is it?"_ A cry from Lachesis and silence answered from both of her sisters, Clotho keeps on measuring the thread of life with a blank and pensive look she often wears while Atropos studies the sharp edges of the blade flashing light. _"Why do you never tell me!" _Lachesis whines and Atropos was ready to smite the string of life with the blade of her shears, ignoring of what was happening. While the present battles against the future, Clotho closes her eyes and imagines peace; the past seeks refuge. The young woman knows what has past and also knows that the past tends to repeat itself she was quiet.

_  
"I want to know!" _A childish command that never gets her anywhere, she only knows of what is present and nothing else. Tension building onto anger and they could never act on their impulses for they had only time to do what He had planned. _"Shhhhh," _A cloaked figure of velvet black appears to the sisters, the youngest surprised. The middle child unaffected while the eldest need not to express anything for she already had seen what was to come. Atropos speaks grimly without looking at the newcomer, _"It is not our place to tell, we weave silently amongst those who seek to destroy or recreate the balance. You are wasting your time, leave before you truly soil the sacred ground."_

He mutters inaudibly and Atropos shakes her head slowly answering with her olden eyes solely directly back at her second sister,_ "It is not time." _The man did not seem to like that, everyone felt it. The intense anger growing stronger and stronger then just with a flick of his wrist, the crone was killed as fire burned her inside out. A scream erupted from the little one and with a single glance from the burning flame of darkness, the scream died out when her Lachesis' body was quickly twisted in different ways by an unseen force.

The wail of her younger sister and the extinction of her older sister, Clotho was not stupid. Fear was crawling up the back of her spine. She was going to die but how is that possible when she was never alive to begin with? Her thoughts were suspended in time as she finally became aware of that her hands were wrapped around her throat. She was trying hard to pull them away but she fails. Her hands were securely wrapped against her throat, she was panicking. To die was nothing to be feared for her but when she dared to look up at her assailant, he gave her a wide smile without showing his teeth.

Her larynx was being damaged to a further extreme and her petite hands, with the will of the monster, fracture bones in her neck. She knew that she was dying, her life force slowly deteriorating away. Then she felt it, the urging sensation to breathe.

Air hunger, she was struggling hard, just trying to breath. He was laughing as the tears spilled down her cheeks. Her vision blurs but she could still hear him cackle the devil's laughter. Then suddenly he stopped, a grave glance at her and then walked two steps before disappearing from her view. He released his hold on her hands around her neck, she could move. She does not waste time. Someone needs to be warned. A breath of a whisper and white light envelops her power sending it to its course. It leaves her and flees for warning.

She burns for promise but cried out when he yanked her arm out to him; appearing out of nowhere and invading her everything again. "What's wrong, precious?" His eyes looked up as did she; hope diminished the moment it stopped moving. The white ball of energy was forced back into her mouth by the smiting hand of the demonic monster.

Defeat for Clotho.

She sinks down into the floor. Arms wrapped around her body unexpectedly, she jerked to get away from his touch. He was blowing cold air on her scorched skin. The fire had claimed her youngest sister's essence and left marks on her mortal skin, _"Why?" _

He gives out a smug laugh and with a whisper into her ear, "_It is not time." _The dawning came upon her, he wanted her alive. It made her heart weep to even know what this man's past raided her being like a brash stain. He was going to use her and then kill her, _"I guess the old hag knew what she was saying after all."_

A stolen kiss from ancient daughter made his cold blood boil for rage. "_My world is a darker shade of grey, how ironic…" _It was the same colour the monster had for his eyes.

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"What are little boys made of? Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails," she spun round. "That's what little boys are made of," Long flowing brown hair, ocean blue eyes, she looked at down at the body she traced. She felt quite gleeful. It was strange to feel this way, it felt so alien to her and yet she welcomed it as if it were the most usual thing in the world. It was strange to be shape-shifting from one being, one creature to another but to her it was stranger to crave emotion.

She was standing in the Hyperion Hotel, filled with gleeful inspiration. Contrary to everything that she has been every forced to live, she felt good even though the feeling would not last forever. Everything was going quite smoothly but knowing life herself, she had her guard up, _"There is no such thing as a perfect everything."_

Inside.

Fred was spinning the child round and round the room, she was playing with the little one. Why? She did not know, the voices were telling her to do so. Her whole circle around the room would be complete and she would face the doors to the courtyard and the little teenage girl waiting there excitedly would take the child and fly. But she stopped.

Her foot was caught up in a shaky hold, she looks down. Pleading eyes with gagged mouths looked up at her, asking and demanding why but she just smiled. With a breath of a whisper, they were enveloped in thick black smoke putting them into sleep. She smiled menacingly and triumphant; beating up men and tying them up with a blank expression, it was meaningless to think so she did not. She only obeyed the whispers, there was nothing else left.

"You should stay quiet or she'll see you herself. You wouldn't like that." She spares one smile however a second later, her face contorted into pain. She leaves the child suspended, time slows down. Pain was much abundant and ripping her soul into two, her arms were twitching and she was burning up from the inside.

A scream dies out before it escapes from her mouth, the Fred skin was fading. Shed away it was, and the faceless monster was coming back, faceless serpentine creature damned by the one who made her.

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_Where is Fred?_

Her breathing had stilled and she had stayed rooted in the same spot that Angel had left her, emotions running marathons on her aching heart. She rested her hand on top of Angel's desk, emotions were subsiding. There was something lingering within the tip of her tongue, she was about to speak something but it turned out into a cough. Sudden hyperventilation, deep breathing; hard to breathe. She felt like she was sinking within the deep ocean of woes.

Mouth agape and eyes wide open, she shifted to it. She embraced it, there was no turning back.

"_Votum separatum, vade retro Satana. Tuebor sine ira et studio. Sola gratia...scio_. I know." Cordelia helplessly watches her surroundings, someone else was taking over. "**_We both shall take you down_**." Not a minute, not a second later, she appeared in the hotel reception without moving a muscle. Head tilted upward and hands recognized by Cordelia as hers were doing something she thought impossible. The skin of her palms were parting, releasing bright white light. It journeyed across the room, enveloped the two men on the floor. Wounds healed and bonds disappeared, eyes still wide with shock.

"Wha-" Gunn could not finish at the sight displayed before him. He was paralyzed with uncertain fear. Wesley, who had just sprung away from the spell, looked up and then understood Gunn's lack of movement to help. Standing five feet away from them was Cordelia but she did not look; she did not feel like their friend. The distant juxtaposition between Cordelia to both themselves were quite filled with paucity. Their eyes lingered a second longer before their attention was grasped by the impending danger that was not welcome in their home.

"Yes, most inordinately uncommon." He shook himself out of the trance Cordelia seemed to have. "She's a shapeshifter, she can mold herself into anything, anyone at anytime. I do not have resources that give out more than brief definitions since well..."

"I don't know what the heck is going down but right now we need to get the kid back. Where's Fred?" He was being distrait, the so-called Cordelia was really different. _Had we been knocked out that long?_ _Where's Fred? She was here but..._

Wesley's voice trailed off, both did not notice the warning looks of Cordelia and the heightened sensation of danger his senses were screaming at him. The light had set and darkness took Gunn over.

He was suddenly alone in the same room. His thoughts were jumbled up in sequence, bad things were being plotted behind his back and worst is what worst will be.

"I'm here." He whipped his head towards her voice and he was met by his father. "What are you doing to yourself? Do you even know how stupid you are, boy? Trash like you will never-" His father, he had called him a Anger filled him and he acted without thought, charging like a raging bull without the similar speed and stamina. He did not care, his past was best left six feet under. He had hit his target, a moment of glory running through his veins and the sudden rush of adrenaline pumped in his system made him strike the man he hated not once but chained hits one after another until his father's body lay face-up the ceiling.

It disappeared.

Then he heard her voice, "Why would you hit your own sister? You know you won't be happy until you get as close to death as you possibly can. You're so stupid, Gunn. Strong and stupid forever."

"Alonna?" Hopeful, he almost ran into waiting arms but he knew it was surreal. No matter how many nightmares will haunt him of her, of his family, of everything that he had done before; careless with a strong purpose, his mind was on the right path knowing that she was dead. _'I killed her myself, the dead should stay dead.' _Taking a deep breath with hands clenched into tight fists, he screamed. "Stop messin' with my head!"

Alonna frowned, "You were much better off paranoid, do you know that?" He rolled his eyes and stared down the replica of his dearly departed sister. He wished that somehow it were real that Alonna was alive but that's all it was, he moved on doing what he did best. With a set of knives kept hidden, he took it out and threw it immediately all of it at the shapeshifter's heart.

He knew that the shape shifter can dodge the attack, he thought that it would spare him time. Spare time to what? _'Spare time to do something else and get away from that crazy chic.' _Perfect aims and perfect hits, he was astonished._ 'She keeps on getting hit and she's not flinchin', somethins' definitely wrong with her brain.' _He stared at her, his blades lodged inside her.

_'At her throat, at the base of her kneecaps, at the left side of her hip, at her thigh, at the middle of her heart...and she just keeps on smilin' like that.' _He was engrossed again against his will. With a mere exhale of breath, the weapons were sucked into her skin. Long black hair cascaded down her spine, no hint of pain and Gunn was baffled. She clenched both fists at the same time. Expelling the offending objects out of her body and set to reek havoc like a hornet's nest.

Gunn fell to the floor and the girl gave out momentary laugh of triumph but she stopped. A spear came into contact with the middle of her forehead; went through her skull. She scowled and the child was crying. Her control over her illusion was shattered along with her steady hold of keeping the child hidden however her eyes gleamed with great expectancy as she sized up the father of the child she was taking. She knew from the look that he gave him; feral undiluted anger.

She giggled, "This is going to be fun."

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**_IretherI_:** **I am not overparticulary fond of this chapter, maybe because it's been a long day and I just had two of my permanet teeth extracted from their cozy sockets in my mouth, I have to where retainers and I still have to go to school tomorrow. I'm ranting on and on about my life again and I should stop. Leave a review for me, it'll make me feel better honest.**


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